Danny Boyle Convenes Slumdog Kid Summit in Mumbai

Oscar-winning director purchases apartment for slum-dwelling child star, continues home search for other family during meeting with kids

Danny Boyle doesn't need an Oscar-caliber script to create engrossing drama with his child stars—all he needs is an irate father.

The Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire director today met with slum-dwelling child actors Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and their families to discuss the status of the homes promised to them in the wake of the film's success.

The issue has become even more pressing after the families of 9-year-old Ali and 10-year-old Ismail both lost their homes earlier this month in a premonsoon citywide razing of illegal shanties—shelters that amounted to little more than plastic sheets propped up by bamboo sticks.

"We've been trying for a long time to move them into legal accommodation," Boyle told reporters at Mumbai's Tata Institute of Social Sciences, where he and fellow producer Christian Colson met with the families.

"Inevitably, the tension and pressure is media generated. They were given access to a world, an extraordinary and glamorous world, and they understandably want their lives to be completely transformed."

Boyle, who along with the film's producers set up the Jai Ho Trust to provide money for college education and living expenses for the child stars, has already found a home for Ismail's family and is still searching for an acceptable residence for the Alis. Producers are expected to spend $100,000 on the new abodes.

However, tensions quickly boiled over in the meeting as Ali's father, Rafiq Quereshi, the same man accused and cleared last month of attempting to sell his daughter, stormed out, saying he was fed up with waiting.

"It has been five to six months," he said. "Everything is available in Mumbai if you have the money. If you really want to get us a house, you can get us a house in two days.

"After the Oscars they forgot about us."

"We have been trying to accelerate the process of rehousing the families, and one of the reasons we set up the trust is to deal with emergencies like this," Colson countered.

Meanwhile, Boyle also confirmed today that he has not given up on the city that so informed his Oscar effort, announcing that he has plans to shoot two more films in Mumbai.

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